Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Removes Fire-Hopping Trick

So long fire-hopping technique. Additionally, there's now support for local multiplayer over Wi-Fi for up to eight players or ethernet for up to twelve.

And on Nintendo Switch, Mario Kart is as good as it's ever been.

So, what does that kind of cash get you?

Originally launched for the Wii U, the most recent addition to the Mario Kart series is finally coming to the Switch.

If you owned/played Mario Kart 8 before, the Deluxe version has enough new features to warrant another buy. The Wii U sole 890,000 units, with this occurring in the lead up to Christmas.

Essentially, this exploit would allow gamers to extend a power slide boost which was effective in Mario Kart 8 on Nintendo's last-generation console, the Wii U.

It hit me when I was playing Mario Kart 8 on the subway and the woman sitting next to me didn't try to hide that she was watching me race: This doesn't feel at all like a port.

Some are more obvious than others, like being able to hold two items at once and the return of double item boxes from Mario Kart: Double Dash. Its biggest addition is "Battle Mode", which is far improved from what was included in the original 2014 release.

What is really gratifying about Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is that it contains more than we expected. Additionally, double items have returned this time around, with the trailer giving a quick showcase of them in action. Bom-bomb Blast has everyone battling only with bombs, and Coin Runners task players with gathering the most bling.

Perhaps the least significant of those are new driver aids which add auto-acceleration and steering assist (the latter removing the danger of plummeting off cliffs), created to make Mario Kart 8 Deluxe accessible to those who are so young that they haven't yet developed effective motor skills.

Unlike a lot of re-releases, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe feels like it was painstakingly made to feel fresh.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is an wonderful addition to the Nintendo Switch library. There are also a couple of new items: the item-up pilfering Boo, and the leap-enabling Feather (only available in Battle mode). When I played as Donkey Kong in Balloon Battle, I was surprised to see so much detail in his fur. This is, in my eyes, the most polished entry in the series, bringing together a set of fun new courses and well-curated old favorites with unmatched visual clarity (in 1080p, 60 frames per second when docked and 720p/60 when portable) and a rollicking, toe-tapping soundtrack produced with live instrumentation. But the sheer exhilaration of taking on human opponents remotely in a Mario Kart game is what matters.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe lets you play online, but it's not a marked improvement from what the Wii U version offered three years ago. It makes ideal sense, of course, giving Wii U owners that little bit more impetus to buy the game a second time for Switch, as well as ensuring there's no loop hole to get out of paying for online multiplayer, but it's a shame that people are being left behind. Graphically, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is superb - the original looked fabulous, but on the Switch, it's even crisper, with much better textures - which won't leave you thinking that the Switch is underpowered (not that that matters a jot). There's no voice chat in the game (Nintendo isn't launching its online lobby and voice chat app until the fall), so you're stuck with canned messages that you can only use between races.